Through the visor of Tony Perkin
What a venue. Cadwell Park basking in sunshine, just perfect. This being a round of the Sidecar British Championship it was packed, but among the melee the Lansdowne riders made their home for the weekend fairly close together, and so after the usual pre-race legalities it was Gorgeous George Thomas who took pole from his nemesis Mike Hose with Luke Bailey, Matt Hebb and myself all in close attendance.
Race one
In the Championship class Thomas and Hose rode basically the same piece of tarmac all race just the positions changing often with Thomas edging the win nothing between them, superb racing. Luke Bailey on his mint Holman Wilfey Ltd G50 absolutely on it and too fast for me to challenge for 3rd. Robin Stokes and Matt Hebb were all over me and the pace was relentless with any small mistake heavily penalised leaving lots of work to do to close any gap formed.
Stokes and Hebb took 1st and 2nd Clubman from Seb Perez who I know from past experience has a liking for Cadwell’s technicalities. Mike Farrall on his favourite Rudge TTR maxed the Pre-55 points before knocking the crank out of it having to take to the 11b class Manx just to ride in the rest of the meeting. 2nd Pre-55 once again was Richard Hann from the immaculate Jimmy May on his lovely long stroke Manx. 350 maestro John Cragg was flying, leaving Jack Hebb to pick up the pieces ahead of Cliff Ransley.
Race two
The Hose/Thomas battle rolled over once again in this race with the two entertaining the crowds and nothing between them. Hose sneaked the win by an enormous .03 of a second at the flag.
Meanwhile, Bailey rode to another fine 3rd. Matt Hebb kept Stokes honest in the Clubman class with Perez in close attendance taking 3rd. Mike Farrall cracked the whip in the Pre-55 class, with Ben Kingham not riding, ahead of Richard Hann who’s must be racking up some major points with his regular second place hauls. Jimmy May did enough to hold off Paul Stephen for the final trophy.
Race three
Tony Dunnell’s man Thomas tried his hardest to take this race from Ian Garbett’s Mike Hose and was so-so close but no banana. Hose once again had that little something to edge another storming win as all through their titanic scrap Luke Bailey was pulling them in, but ran out of time having to settle for another 3rd.
Clubman Matt Hebb held Stokes at bay for another great 1st in class whilst Steve Parrott got the better of Perez to take 3rd with Nick Bedford right on their tail.
The 350 class is John Cragg’s domain and as yet, Jack Hebb has not found the answer to un-ravelling his tactics and so another haul of max points goes Cragg’s way with Ransley a close 3rd.
In the Pre-55 class Richard Hann took the win from Jimmy May with the big news, Paul Stephen held on for 3rd and for the first time did not get lapped on his pre-war beautiful Norton, a show of determination and dogged effort with the spanners, relentlessly working on the bike I think he even ate dinner using a spanner and a tyre lever!
Race four
At it again, Thomas and Hose threw the kitchen sink at this final race, only to have the result decided by a decision to go outside or inside a back-marker on the last lap, last bend manoeuvre. Thomas lost out ending up-side down, handing the win to Hose.
I held Bailey off with him right on my tail up until a dislodged fuel tank knocked the fuel tap off, leaving Bailey to grab a great 2nd place finish. Matt Hebb once again led Stokes across the line ahead of Perez leaving Parrott to fight off the close attention of Nick Bedford and Mike Farrall all very close.
Richard Dawson managed to hold off Pre-55 runner Hann who bagged the max class points from Jimmy May and another splendid performance from Paul Stephen. The 350 John Cragg show continued, Cragg the master with Cliff Ransley taking 2nd.
To sum up…
A great meeting, big crowd and just a superb atmosphere in the Lansdowne camp, heightened by the great band in the marquee hosting the ‘Lansdowettes’ ( the girls really rocking till the early hours), dirty stop-outs!
Thank you to everyone who made this such a good meeting, Marshall’s and organisers. On to Castle Combe next so prepare yourselves for close racing, BBQ and music from the Croc & Sock’s.
